State committed to agric promotion

WE are committed to agriculture promotion to reduce poverty among the people, says 'eputy Secretary to cabinet, Patrick .angwa.

Speaking when he officiated at the &entral 3rovince Agriculture and &ommercial Show in &hisamba on Saturday, 0r Kangwa said government has continued subsidising the agriculture sector using the evoucher system.

Mr Kangwa explained that through the system, government has saved millions of taxpayers’ money through the elimination of ghost famers who had persistently affected input distribution in the country.

“The Zambian government led by 3resident (dgar /ungu has placed high consideration on agriculture as the main driver of the national economy and is committed to promoting the sector in order to reduce poverty in the country,” said Mr Kangwa.

Speaking earlier, &entral province permanent secretary, &handa .abwe said the province was working hard to return its lost glory of being the number one in agriculture.

Mr Kabwe said in the early 90s, there was no province that used to beat central province in agriculture exhibition because it was known to be the hub of agriculture.

“Our agriculture show in the future will be able to beat the /usaka and &opperbelt, it will probably be competing with the Trade Fair because all farmers, agro dealers and all these big companies make money in &entral 3rovince,´ said Mr Kabwe.

0eanwhile &hief &hamuka appealed to government to provide new and standard technologies in the agriculture sector for the country to move in tandem with its 2030 vision and Seventh National Development Plan (7NDP).

He also appealed to the government to quickly establish the collection and processing centres for farmers to grow the sector as land was already available.

“I ‘am appealing to government to quickly establish collection and processing centres at Momboshi, Musiwishi and Mpima, land is already available,´ said &hief &hamuka.

And &hisamba 'istrict Agriculture and commercial show chairperson, Francis Mwale said small-scale farmers have a challenge in accessing financing and new technologies.

Mr Mwale said despite these challenges, small-scale farmers have the vast potential in contributing to the economic growth of the country.